


Penance

by juniperus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-03
Updated: 2011-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-15 08:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 99
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/158921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juniperus/pseuds/juniperus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Severus Snape desires penance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penance

There were precisely five tiny buttons on each boot.

And ten on each trouser cuff, and five more behind the placket.

There were ten buttons at the cuffs of his frock coat. From his neck to waist ran a row of buttons forty-five in number.

Every morning, Severus Snape methodically, deftly, fastened the black wool that protected him from emotional slings and arrows as surely as chain mail from a rapier.

One-hundred times in the morning, one-hundred more when he retired for the night—as each button was pressed through its hole—he silently repeated the phrase, _Forgive me_.


End file.
